Merry Christmas

We are so blessed. God is good, and I am so thankful for his most wonderful gift--a savior. We had a wonderful time celebrating Christ's birth together as a family. Not only that, but we had a WHITE CHRISTMAS! It was an extra special bonus. Here are a few pictures from our day.

All Six holding a volume from the Jonathan Park Audio Drama series.


Madeleine and Max braving the cold to build a snowman. They
did a great job.


MACKENZIE'S FIRST CHRISTMAS
She enjoyed the bows and boxes as much
as the presents and candy.

Six Pack (and testing photo size)

I attempted to take a good picture of all six of my children. It was an extremely difficult task--especially since I was all by myself. I need an assistant, but he was working at his real job that day. The following is the best result. I'll try again soon in some Christmas attire (when my assistant is available, and where there's no poison ivy around, but that's another story).

Also, these are the same picture. They are sized differently--one for printing and one for the web. I wanted to see if there was much difference in the appearance on the blog. (Mom, let me know how that affects if you want to save the picture on your computer.)

Individuals to be posted soon.

Before and after after

The boys had been desperately needing a haircut. It had been put off for various reasons, but when Matthias and Miles came to me and pleaded with me to cut their hair, I decided all had to be set aside to get the task done. I got to it, took my time and finished with cute little boy haircuts. I left the clippers on the bench outside (because I cut their hair outside on the back porch) until Max and Mickey were ready for their hair cut. Well, idle hands will fall into mischief. Miles and Matthias were messing with the clippers, and Miles ran the clippers across the top of his little brother's head--with no guard. I had to cut Matthias's hair again. I used a #1, so you can still somewhat see where Miles got him. Matthias wasn't too thrilled about it, so Miles is "suffering" right along with a shorter cut also. At least no one was harmed, and he still has both eyebrows :).

Matthias and Soccer

This is Matthias's first season of soccer. He couldn't wait to play after watching his older brothers and sister play since he was a newborn. Well here he is in the middle of the game performing somersaults. You'll also find him spinning, rolling in the grass, and gazing at airplanes passing by. After this game he said, "Mom, the best part of a soccer game is the snacks." Hmmm, I wonder if he wanted to "play" soccer just so he could get the snacks afterward.



I must say though, this past Saturday, he actually engaged in the game during the first half--he even actually touched the ball. That's progress.

Horses and Leaves

Well it's been a while since I've posted any updates. It's been non-stop around our house, and finding the time has been difficult to say the least. I have several pictures I would love to share over my next few posts.

These were taken today at Camp El Har where Madeleine is taking horse riding classes. While she was in class, I took pictures of Mackenzie. She is 9 months old already, and cute as can be. We are all enjoying that sweet baby girl.

You can't see the horse in this picture, but Madeleine is off on her trail ride. She's enjoying horse riding very much, and the teacher says she's doing very well.


Sweet Mackenzie--"Kenzie girl" playing in the leaves--she's sooo adorable!!

After lots of nagging and pleading, Madeleine finally consented to cutting her hair. It looks sooooo much better, and she really likes it--amazing when Mom knows what she's talking about.

She's such a pretty girl, and now she has some pretty hair too.

Just a Swingin'

Labor day weekend, the children and I went to one of the city parks here in Duncanville--Lyons Park. Mackenzie is big enough now for the "baby" swing. She loved it! Especially when big brother Matthias came along and was pushing her higher than mommy was comfortable with. It didn't phase her any--just check out the big smile on her face.






This particular park has a creek and pond nearby. The older three disappeared looking for tadpoles, so I took the younger two boys (with Mackenzie on my back) down to the creek. They had a good time trying to catch minnows--and both slipped on the algae and ended up a bit wet. Oh well, they'll dry.

First Tooth

Mackenzie's first tooth has broken through :). If you zoom in close on the top picture, you can see a little white speck on her lower left. She's too cute!! I just love that little girl!




She has her VoVo's name, but her Granny's smile.

A New School Year

School is under way. We have finished our first three weeks and personally, I'm tired. We have a lot of work to do this year, so we've been busy. We've gotten off to a great start, including science--a favorite subject in our home. We are studying chemistry this semester and started off with a fun new experiment--the diet soda fountain.


The children are loading up the tube with Mentos candies.



Madeleine pulls the toothpicks out, so the Mentos can fall into the soda.


The resulting fountain due to the reaction of the soda and Mentos.

I'm looking forward to a good school year--and more science experiments.

Max's 8th Birthday

It's been 8 short years since God blessed us with Max on August 21, 2001. We had a small family celebration at home, but still had a good time. Here are a few pics from his party:




He's such a ham--he kept making goofy faces for his pictures.


It's not that our boys like pink, but like strawberry icing.

Visit at VoVo's

Hello to all. I know it's been quite a while since my last post. It's been a bit crazy getting back into school, soccer and baseball. We went from nothing going on to everything going on all at once. This is the first of many new posts to send out.

In the middle of August we went for another visit to Vovo's--before things got crazy again. Here are several pictures from our visit.

The children were able to spend some time with their cousins at the pool. They had a great time.

Miles and Matthias ganging up on Justin.

Courtney and Mackenzie


My little water baby. Mackenzie loved splashing in the water.


Who's the cool dude in the green goggles?


Mackenzie tried her best to chew on Papa Jim's necklace. Papa Jim patiently endured lots of drool.



Snuggling with VoVo. So sweet. If only they could stay this little a little longer--it always goes too fast.


Coming soon--pictures from Max's birthday and back to school.

Happy 6th Birthday, Miles

Miles is 6 years old today. We had a small celebration with family. Here are a few pictures.


I made the cake for Miles--he was very specific--strawberry cake, strawberry icing, his name in green, and the number six in blue. I am definitely not a professional, but I had fun making it just for him.


Blowing out candles.



This is just one of his new Lego sets he got today.